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FROM  TURKISH  TOILS 


THE     NARRATIVE    OF    AN 
ARMENIAN  FAMILY'S  ESCAPE 


BY 

MRS.  ESTHER  MUGERDITCHIAN 

Translated  from  the  Armenian 
WITH  PORTRAITS 


NEW  YORK 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


c< 


FOREWORD 

The  following  narrative  was  written  by  the  wife 
of  Mr.  Tovmas  K.  Mugcrditchian,  an  Armenian  pastor 
who  became  attached  to  the  British  Oriental  Consular 
Service  in  1896,  and  in  1904  was  appointed  British 
Vice-Consul  in  Diarbekir.  There  are  many  reliable 
witnesses  who  will  affirm  that  the  story  of  Mrs.  Mugcr- 
ditchian is  worthy  of  the  fullest  credence.  The  record 
of  the  Turk  is  sufficiently  well  known ;  the  abominations 
he  has  perpetrated  in  Armenia  are  as  well  authenticated 
as  any  event  in  modern  history. 

From  other  sources  comes  confirmatory  evidence  of 
the  hideous  crimes  that  have  added  further  stains  to 
Turkey's  record  in  that  unhappy  land.  Mrs.  Muger- 
ditchian  and  her  family,  dressed  in  Kurdish  costume, 
succeeded  in  making  their  escape  into  the  country  held 
by  the  Russians.  From  Tiflis  she  wjas  able  to  send  the 
whole  story  to  her  husband,  who  is  at  present  serving 
the  British  authorities  in  Egypt.  While  this  small 
party  was  fleeing  north-eastwards,  other  Armenians 
were  making  their  way  to  Bagdad,  which  had  just  been 
taken  by  the  British.  Others  will  tell  their  own  story, 
but  the  letter  of  Mr.  Edmund  Candler,  the  accredited 
Correspondent  with  the  Mesopotamian  forces,  pub- 
lished in  The  Times  of  June  21st,  1917,  records 
numerous  similar  instances  of  inhuman  atrocities  com- 
mitted by  the  Turks  in  other  parts  of  Armenia. 

vii 


3S0G5a 


viii  '/Vofeword 

Mrs/MdgeWitcfeian -spea.ks  of  the  callous  behaviour 
of  the  Germans,  a  behaviour  which  can  only  be  inter- 
preted as  connivance  in  crime.  Mr.  Candler  tells  us 
also  how,  at  Aleppo  and  Ras-el-Ain,  German  officers 
stalked  side  hy  side  with  the  spectres  of  famine  and 
murder  and  death.  "It  is  impolite  to  interfere,"  was 
the  watchword.  From  all  that  this  conjures  up  in  the 
mind,  we  realise  *hat  other  dragons  are  abroad  on  the 
earth,  whose  rapacities  call  for  the  united  forces  of 
civilised  humanity  to  lay  them  low. 

The  bald  statements  of  Mrs.  Mugcrditchian,  taken 
side  by  side  with  those  that  have  been  received  in 
Bagdad  and  elsewhere,  constitute  a  damning  and 
unanswerable  arraignment  of  the  Turkish  Government, 
the  guilt  of  which  must  be  shared  by  its  German  Allies. 

Mankind  must  not  be  allowed  to  forget  what  the 
history  of  the  last  three  years  has  brought  to  light. 
In  a  moment  of  anger  a  man  may  commit  a  crime  for 
which  he  may  afterwards  be  forgiven,  but  the  Turk 
has  run  his  mad  career  for  centuries,  leaving  a  trail 
of  blood  and  ruin  wherever  he  l)^s  trodden.  The  Ger- 
mans in  three  years  have  shown  that  there  has  never 
been  a  more  natural  alliance  than  that  between  them- 
selves and  the  Turks. 

Mankind  must  continue  to  read  such  records  as  that 
which  follows,  for  only  thus  will  there  be  continual 
realisation  of  the  evil  that  is  in  our  midst. 


PREFACE 

To  the  Armenians  of  Kharpout  and  Diarhekir 
who  have  survived: 

As  one  of  those  who  have  been  saved,  in  an  ahnost 
miraculous  way,  from  the  hell  which  is  called  Turkey, 
and  have  witnessed  the  atrocities  committed  to-day,  I 
publish  all  that  I  have  witnessed,  which  the  Turks,  in 
their  usual  lying  way,  attempt  to  keep  concealed. 

I  write  to  you  all  that  I  have  seen,  all  that  I  have 
felt,  and  all  that  the  glance  of  the  Armenian  martyrs 
who  were  shot  and  who  suffered,  all  that  the  last  glance 
of  your  sisters  who  were  violated,  conveyed  to  me. 
Words  fail  me  to  describe  adequately  the  barbarous 
means — burning  and  flaying — by  which  they  murdered 
the  men  of  intellect,  Armenians  of  Kharpout  and  Diar- 
bekir,  and  how  they  destroyed  or  profaned  the  holy 
places. 

But  those  who  died  came  to  an  heroic  end.  There 
were  some  wi.j  attempted  to  defend  themselves  with 
rifles  of  an  old  pattern  in  their  hands,  and  to  die  a 
death  of  honour.  Kharpout  and  Diarbekir,  with  all 
the  district  round  them,  have  been  reduced  to  a  desert. 
All  the  inhabited  villages  were  burnt;  no  Armenian 
males  over  the  age  of  from  10  to  12  were  left,  the 
majority  having  been  forced  to  adopt  the  faith  of 
Islam. 

In  publishing  this  note-book,  which  can  give  only  a 

ix 


X  Preface 

very  slight  idea  of  the  atrocities  committed  by  the 
Turks,  I  wish  to  appeal  to  the  conscience  and  good 
will  of  all  people  from  Kharpout  and  Diarbekir  living 
in  America  or  elsewhere  and  invite  them  to  take  an 
interest  in  the  fate  of  the  orphans  and  widows,  and  to 
do  their  best  in  helping  charitable  institutions  to 
supply  financial  assistance  to  save  those  who  have 
survived. 

"Cherish  in  your  hearts  the  feeling  of  vengeance 
for  our  hundreds  of  thousands  of  martyrs" — this  is 
their  call,  addressed  to  you  through  an  Armenian  lady. 

ESTHEE    MUGERDITCHIAN. 


FROM  TURKISH  TOILS 


My  Dear  Husband — 

Before  Turkey  had  declared  war  you  were  already 
on  foreign  soil.  You  had  taken  flight  from  the  hell 
that  is  named  Turkey,  in  the  phrase  of  the  Russo- 
Armenians.  One  hour  after  you  sailed  from  Beyrout, 
strict  orders  were  received  from  Constantinople  for 
your  arrest ;  but  it  was  too  late. 

Jevanian  Dikran  EfFendi,  the  Government  interpre- 
ter at  Diarbekir,  had  informed  us,  through  Professor 
Tenekedjian,  that  the  British  Consulate  at  Diarbekir 
had  been  searched,  and  that  it  was  most  probable 
that  our  house  would  be  searched  also;  so  we  had 
taken  the  necessary  precautions  and  burnt  to  ashes  in 
the  furnace  all  the  English  books,  the  pictures  of  the 
Royal  Family,  and  all  the  letters  bearing  your  signa- 
ture which  might  arouse  suspicion. 

I  will  attempt  to  tell  you,  as  plainly  as  possible, 
everything  that  all  the  Armenians  and  our  own  family 
have  undergone,  trying  to  summarise  under  various 
headings  the  events,  the  remembrance  of  which  makes 
us  afraid,  even  to-day. 

The  Armenians  During  the  Mobilization. 

All  classes  of  Armenians  greatly  aided  the  Turkish 
Government  by  putting  all  their  physical  and  mental 

I 


2  From  Turkish  Toils: 

powers  at  their  disposal  and  furnishing  them  with  sup- 
plies of  all  kinds  in  abundance. 

The  young'  Armenians  enlisted  as  soldiers  and  held 
an  enviable  position  in  the  army,  but  the  Turkish  sol- 
diers would  not  be  reconciled  with  them,  even  v^ith 
those  who  were  serving  the  army  with  true  self-sac- 
rifice. 

The  following  episode  is  worth  mentioning.  During 
some  severe  fighting  Enver  Pasha,  while  watching  with 
his  field-glasses,  perceived  four  men  who  were  fighting 
bravely  and  noted  them  in  his  pocket-book.  The  battle 
was  lost.  In  the  evening  the  Turkish  Commander 
ascribed  his  defeat  to  his  soldiers,  but  the  four  heroco 
he  summoned,  and  when  they  came  he  was  surprised  to 
see  that  they  were  Armenians.  He  rewarded  them  by 
an  aferin  (appreciation)  and  by  a  money  reward  of  3 
medjidies  each. 

The  Geeman  Consul  at  Kharpout. 

The  Armenians  were  frightened  when  the  Capitu- 
lations were  cancelled.  The  shopkeepers  kept  their 
shops  open  in  fear  and  trembling,  waiting  impatiently 
for  sunset  to  close  them. 

The  German  Consul,  accompanied  by  two  other  Ger- 
man ofl^cers  and  guided  by  Mr.  Ehemann,  the  German 
Missionary,  visited  all  the  vicinity  of  the  market-place. 
On  his  visit  to  the  Euphrates  College,  belonging  to  the 
American  Mission,  seeing  the  Armenian  young  men 
crowded  in  the  hall,  he  was  surprised  for  a  minute. 
When  the  Director  of  the  school  approached  him  and 
9aid:  "Do  you  know  Enghsh.?"  he,  after  a  short  pause. 


An  Armenian  Family's  Escape.  8 

replied,  "I  can  speak  the  American  language."  Then, 
turning  to  the  Turkish  officers,  he  said,  "I  am  sur- 
prised that  young  men  of  military  age  are  still  linger- 
ing in  the  streets.  All  the  pupils  of  the  school  are  fit 
for  active  service  and  the  school  building  is  quite  well 
suited  for  military  barracks." 

Within  a  few  days  the  buildings  were  confiscated. 
Mr.  Riggs  applied  to  have  the  living-quarters  spared, 
but  his  request  was  refused.  He  at  once  appealed  to  the 
American  Consul. 

The  American  Consul  came  down  from  Mezre,  sealed 
the  buildings  of  the  school,  and  went  back.  On  the  day 
following  a  Turkish  officer,  the  blood-thirsty  Kiazim, 
unsealed  the  buildings.  The  American  Consul  wired  the 
facts  of  the  case  to  Constantinople,  receiving  the  fol- 
lowing reply: — "We  can  do  nothing  at  present;  the 
case  is  the  same  with  all  our  schools." 

The  Government  began  to  ask  for  bedel  (money  paid 
in  lieu  of  military  service),  and  demanded  the  use  of  the 
auditorium  of  the  Armenian  Protestants  for  military 
purposes.  Mr.  Riggs  had  willingly  assigned  the  school 
buildings  for  that  purpose.  But  finally  the  church  also 
was  confiscated  and  used  as  a  hospital. 

The  Turkish  population  were  very  pleased  with  the 
abolition  of  the  Capitulations,  and  often  declared 
openly,  "We  are  now  an  independent  Government  and 
masters  in  our  own  house,  and  can  do  whatever  we 
like." 

The  Armenians  were  all  subdued  and,  owing  to  a 
presentiment  of  impending  calamity,  in  low  spirits. 


4  From  Turkish  Toils: 

Thk   Laboir   Battalion. 

The  Arnuinan  soldiers  had  all  been  formed,  in  the 
fields  outside  the  city,  into  a  so-called  Labour  Bat- 
talion, and  were  employed  on  the  Government  build- 
ings and  the  construction  of  roads.  They  were  properly 
treated  at  the  beginning,  but  gradually  the  conditions 
became  very  severe. 

It  is  reported  that  the  group  working  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  village  of  Habusi,  four  hours  distant 
from  Kharpout,  consisting  of  young  men  of  from  20  to 
21  years  of  age,  was  brought  down  to  the  "Red  Palace" 
of  jMezre  and  beaten  on  the  way.  There  were  among 
them  the  sons  of  Professor  Tenekedjian,  who  were  kept 
in  a  building  starving  and  thirsty. 

The  poor  fellows  cried  out:  "Water,  water,"  until 
Mr.  Ehemann  heard  of  the  affair  and  sent  some  water 
to  be  given  them  through  the  window^s. 

On  the  day  on  which  they  were  to  be  transferred  to 
Diarbekir  there  were  two  soldiers  waiting  in  front  of 
the  door  to  give  four  blows  with  a  cane  on  the  head  or 
neck — wherever  they  might  happen  to  fall — to  all  those 
who  came  out. 

Mr.  Tchatalbashian  Hovhannes,  accompanied  by  his 
family,  had  come  to  see  the  departure  of  their  son  Nuri. 
The  father  and  the  mother  witnessed  the  four  blows 
with  the  club  that  fell  on  their  child's  head.  The  son, 
whose  face  was  deathly  pale,  cried  to  his  mother,  "Could 
my  father  do  nothing  for  me.^"  The  mother  made  no 
reply,  but  fell  fainting  and  in  tears. 

A  young  man  of  Huseinig  reports  how  they  were 
bound  together  in  fours  and  surrounded  by  gendarmes 


An  Armenian  Family's  Escape.  5 

with  fixed  bayonets,  and  how,  after  two  hours'  march, 
he  cut  the  ropes  with  a  razor  kept  in  his  trousers,  and 
took  to  flight. 

Nishan,  the  tailor  of  Huseinig,  reports  that,  after 
six  hours'  journey,  orders  were  given  by  their  officer 
commanding,  Kiazim,  the  bloodthirsty  beast,  to  "fall 
in,"  and  immediately,  at  a  signal  given  by  him,  to  open 
fire  on  them.  The  orders  were  carried  out  and  1,700 
young  men  fell  dead  on  the  ground.  After  a  short  time 
he  shouted :  "Those  who  are  alive  get  up !"  Being  de- 
ceived by  a  false  reprieve  from  the  Sultan,  from  120 
to  130  men  arose,  and  for  the  second  time  the  poor  fel- 
lows were  fired  on.  The  call  was  made  a  second  time, 
but  nobody  moved  from  his  place. 

Then  the  gendarmes  examined  the  dead  one  by  one 
with  the  points  of  their  bayonets.  Those  who  were  still 
alive  attempted  to  take  to  flight  but  were  shot  at,  only 
a  few  of  them  escaping  alive. 

The  Prison  Atrocities. 

Here  are  the  names  of  the  Turkish  officers  who 
showed  great  activity  in  the  atrocities  committed: — 

Zabit  Bey,  the  Governor  of  Mezre,  Vilayet  of 
Mamouret-el-Aziz ; 

Vahby  Bey,  the  Officer  Commanding  the  Army 
Corps ; 

Ferid  Bey,  the  Officer  Commanding  the  Regi- 
ment ; 

Reshid  Bey,  the  Director  of  City  Police ; 

Ali  Riza  Effendi,  Police  Commissary  at  Khar- 
pout  (a  bloodthirsty  man)  ; 


6  From  Turkish  Toils: 

AsiM    Bey,   the   Kaiinakam    of   Kharpout;   and 
Shkfki   Bey,   the   Captain   of   Gendarmerie    at 
Kharpout. 

It  was  on  Ist  May,  1915,  that  I  saw  Professor  H. 
Bujikanian,  one  of  the  most  efficient  teachers  in  the 
Kiiphrates  College,  passing  in  custody  of  a  body  of 
gendarmes,  some  of  whom  were  carrying  his  books. 
After  some  time  I  saw  also  Mr.  Ashur  Yusuf  and  Pro- 
fessor G.  Soghikian.  In  the  meantime  Yervant,  my  son, 
entered  breathlessly  and  said:  "Dervartan,  the  Ar- 
menian pastor.  Professor  Tenekedjian,  and  some  other 
men  of  high  standing  have  been  or  are  being  arrested, 
and  the  whole  city  will  be  searched."  Let  me  tell  you 
that  Ali  Riza  EfFendi  acted  as  the  executioner  through- 
out those  terrible  days. 

I  gathered  round  me  all  my  children  and  we  began  to 
pray  together  for  those  imprisoned  and  for  the  whole 
Armenian  nation.  No  member  of  the  male  sex  was  to 
be  seen  in  the  streets ;  most  were  in  prison.  The  police 
authorities  often  declared  that  they  would  be  released 
at  once,  but  they  remained  in  the  prison  for  a  long 
time. 

They  were  all  right  for  the  first  three  weeks,  and 
were  allowed  to  communicate  from  the  windows  by  sig- 
nals and  to  send  greetings  to  their  relations.  As  the 
adults  were  afraid  of  being  seen  in  the  streets,  our  little 
Arsen  acted  as  means  of  communication  for  them. 

Later  on  came  the  days  of  terror;  Professor  Teneked- 
jian, Professor  Bujikanian,  and  Dervartan  the  pastor 
were  tortured  and  maltreated.  They  hung  them  head 
downwards,  plucked  the  hair  of  their  heads  and  mous- 


An  Armenian  Family's  Escape.  7 

tachcs,  and  pinched  their  bodies  with  pincers,  under  the 
pretence  of  endeavouring  to  make  them  disclose  some 
secrets.    The  prisoners  cried  in  vain  for  help. 

Here  arc  tlie  j)articulars  of  the  tortures  which  Pro- 
fessor Tenckcdjian  underwent.  Professor  Soghigian 
declared  that  his  moustache  and  beard  were  so  piti- 
lessly plucked  out  that  when  he  was  shown  to  him  he 
could  not  recognise  him,  notwithstanding  his  friend- 
ship of  over  thirty  years.  There  was  no  limit  to  the 
flogging  he  endured.  They  crushed  his  Iiands  and  feet 
in  the  press,  and  pulled  out  his  nails  with  pincers ;  they 
pierced  his  face  with  needles,  and  put  salt  on  the 
wounds ;  they  forced  him  to  take  eggs  out  of  boiling 
water  and  put  them  under  his  armpits  until  they  cooled. 
They  hung  him  head  downwards  from  the  roof,  beating 
him  all  day  long;  they  forced  him  to  stand  up  for  eight 
days  in  a  drain,  and  they  hung  him  head  downwards  for 
three  hours  in  a  water-closet. 

The  people  outside  the  prisons  knew  of  what  was 
going  on  only  from  the  cries  and  moans  which  came 
through  the  walls ;  while  the  food  supplied  for  the  im- 
prisoned persons  was  usually  consumed  by  the  warders, 
the  poor  prisoners  being  left  to  starve. 

An  attempt  was  made,  with  threats,  to  induce  Profes- 
sor Tenekedjian  to  sign  a  document  which  read  as  fol- 
lows :  "The  whole  Armenian  Nation,  from  the  children 
of  five  years  to  the  aged  of  seventy-five,  consists  of 
revolutionists,  and  the  Armenians  plotted  secretly  to 
massacre  the  Turkish  males  by  rifles  and  the  females  by 
means  of  razors."  All  threats  were  in  vain,  so  they 
sent  for  some  scavengers  and  ordered  them  to  urinate 


8  From  Turkish  Toils: 

into  the  professor's  mouth;  then  they  put  a  red-hot 
copper  vase  on  his  head,  burning  his  scalp  and  hair. 

Professor  Bujikanian  was  exposed  to  the  same  tor- 
tures. After  the  usual  torments  they  pulled  off  his 
nails  and  seared  the  wounds  with  hot  irons  until  he 
went  mad.  But  when  they  asked  him :  "Where  are  the 
rifles?"  and  in  reply  he  said,  "The  rifles  are  in  my 
head,"  they  cruelly  pressed  his  head  under  the  press. 
When  his  wife  took  his  blood-stained  shirt  to  the  Ger- 
man missionary,  Mr.  Ehemann,  he  only  replied:  "I  can 
do  nothing." 

Mardiros  Muradian  was  exposed  to  the  same  tor- 
tures by  the  Turks.  First  of  all  he  was  given  1,600 
lashes;  then  they  put  out  his  eyes,  and  in  this  miser- 
able condition  led  him  round  the  city,  and  took  him 
again  to  the  prison,  where  Riza,  the  Police  Commissary, 
kicked  him  to  death.  The  day  following  they  sent  to  his 
wife  the  blood-stained  carpet  on  which  he  was  killed. 
Orders  were  given  to  bury  him  at  three  o'clock  in  the 
morning  without  a  coffin  and  face  downwards,  to  pre- 
vent the  pastor  seeing  his  disfigured  features.  During 
the  burial  the  pastor  saw  clearly  that  his  face  had  been 
burnt  by  sulphuric  acid. 

j  The  nails  of  Professor  Lulejian  were  pulled  off,  and 
his  fingers  were  burnt  with  a  hot  iron ;  he  was  forced  to 
walk  on  iron  nails,  and  his  buttocks  were  cut  with  a 
razor. 

Those  Who  Died  of  the  Flogging. 

Armenag  Tervizian  and  Garabed  Tashdjian  were  so 
cruelly  flogged  that  their  bodies  were  all  swollen;  they 
were  taken  to  the  Turkish  hospital  in  a  pitiful  condi- 


An  Ariiienian  Family's  Escape.  9 

tion,  and  a  pretence  of  performing  an  operation  on  them 
was  made.     They  died  within  two  days. 

Mrs.  G.  Tashdjian,  who  was  pregnant,  was  hung  up 
by  her  arms  and  beaten  for  four  or  five  hours  to  make 
her  tell  where  the  rifles  were  kept. 

Shekvi  Bey,  the  Captain  of  Gendarmery,  strangled 
fifteen  young  men  in  their  beds,  binding  them  to  each 
other. 

It  was  a  heartrending  scene  when  they  took  Profes- 
sor M.  Vorperian  to  prison  with  a  night-shirt  on,  at 
midnight,  while  his  wife  and  children  made  pitiful  la- 
ment; and  his  old  mother-in-law,  weeping  and  lifting 
up  her  arms,  cried  aloud,  "Come  down.  Oh  God  Who 
hast  created  us,  come  down !"  The  policemen  took  not 
the  least  notice  of  their  cries. 

After  a  while  the  Reverend  V.  A.  was  taken  to 
the  prison.  Hadji  Hagop  Fermanian  was  flogged  in 
front  of  them  until  he  fainted ;  then  water  was  sprinkled 
on  his  face  to  rouse  him,  when  they  continued  the  flog- 
ging even  more  cruelly.  This  they  repeated  three  times 
in  order  to  make  him  disclose  the  place  where  the  rifles 
were  kept.  At  the  same  time  they  threatened  the  other 
people,  saying:  "If  you  do  not  bring  and  hand  over  the 
rifles  of  the  Armenians  by  to-morrow,  you  will  suff'er 
worse  torture  than  this,"  and  they  pointed  to  the  tor- 
tured body  of  Fermanian. 

Professor  Vorperian  was  delirious  the  whole  nirht, 
and  on  the  day  following  he  was  taken  to  the  American 
Hospital  at  Mezre  in  a  car,  accompanied  by  two  police- 
men. 

The  Reverend  V.  A.,  after  remaining  in  the  prison  for 
eight  days,  became  very  ill. 


10  From  Turkish  Toils: 

'I'liey  showed  Professor  Tenekedjian  to  the  people 
ill  his  altered  condition,  saying:  '*Here  is  your  enemy." 
Not  satisfied  with  the  ordinary  tortures,  they  whipped 
him  on  the  hands  and  burnt  his  hands  and  feet,  and 
flayed  him  alive. 

False  information,  signed  by  themselves,  was  sent 
every  day  to  Constantinople,  with  pretended  revelations 
about  the  revolutionists,  and  pictures  of  so-called  rifles 
(the  use  of  which  is  forbidden)  were  taken,  all  of  which 
were  intended  to  incriminate  the  Armenians.  To  give 
a  clear  idea  of  the  information  sent  to  Constantinople 
it  is  sufficient  to  mention  the  following.  Mardiros 
Muradian,  who  had  been  driven  mad  through  the  sever- 
ity of  the  flogging,  was  taken  to  his  house  to  show  the 
place  where  the  rifles  were  kept.  The  wretched  man, 
who  had  no  rifle  at  all,  pointed  out  certain  places  as 
the  "places  where  the  rifles  were  kept."  They  dug  the 
places  out  and  found  absolutely  nothing,  but  they  re- 
ported to  Constantinople  as  though  a  great  quantity 
of  arms  had  been  found. 

Collecting  the  Rifles. 

The  people,  terrified  by  the  atrocities  committed  on 
well-known  persons,  had  cleared  their  houses  of  every- 
thing which  could  possibly  arouse  suspicion.  We  had 
burnt  even  the  school  textbooks.  Any  book  on  chem- 
istry, etc.,  might  be  sufficient  reason  for  denouncing 
the  owner  as  a  student  of  bomb-making.  A  town  crier 
went  round  for  days  and  days  announcing  that  every 
Armenian  was  obliged  to  hand  over  the  rifles  that  he  had 
to  the  Government.      Men  were  imprisoned   one   after 


MRS.    ESTHER   MUGERDITCHIAX 


12  From  Turkish  Toils: 

Hic  other  on  a  charge  of  possessing  rifles.  The  licensed 
gunsmiths  were  all  thrown  into  gaol  and  heavily  fined 
Many  of  them,  owing  to  the  tortures  they  underwent, 
sent  to  their  houses  to  tell  their  families  to  buy  rifles 
from  the  neighbourhood  and  hand  them  over  to  the 
Government,  hoping  to  save  themselves  in  this  way. 

The  houses  were  searched ;  the  suspected  places  were 
dug  up  to  a  depth  of  three  to  six  feet ;  the  walls  were 
demolished  and  the  floors  were  pulled  up  under  the  false 
pretext  of  finding  rifles.  Everything  that  met  their 
eyes  during  the  search  was  carried  off*. 

The  Government  was  not  satisfied  with  the  things 
collected.  Some  of  the  Turkish  officers  and  Mr.  Ehe- 
mann  often  declared  on  oath  that  all  the  imprisoned 
people  would  be  released,  providing  that  all  the  rifles 
were  handed  over  to  the  Government.  Mr.  Ehemann, 
taking  an  oath  in  the  name  of  Christianity,  gave  an 
undertaking  that  no  harm  would  be  done  to  any  person. 
So  the  sporting  guns  too  were  handed  over  to  the 
Government. 

Once  rumours  arose  that  the  imprisoned  people  were 
to  be  released,  but  the  day  following  it  was  said  that 
70  bombs  were  discovered  in  Mezre.  The  people  were 
terrified. 

Exile. 

There  were  rumours  on  June  20th,  1915,  that  all 
the  imprisoned  people  would  be  transferred  to  Mezre 
in  order  to  be  interrogated  by  a  German  Court  and  that 
they  were  to  be  released  if  they  proved  to  be  innocent. 
It  was  obvious  that  the  Germans  had  decided  to  exter- 
minate the  Armenians  in   their  country.      It  was   ru- 


An  Armenian  Family's  Escape.  13 

moured  that  the  German  Consul  in  Erzerouni  was  the 
first  to  kidnap  a  beautiful  Armenian  girl.  The  Ger- 
mans behaved  everywhere  as  cruelly  as  the  Turks  to- 
wards us  Armenians. 

The  relatives  of  the  imprisoned  people  petitioned  to 
be  granted  permission  to  see  their  loved  ones  for  the 
last  time.  It  is  impossible  to  describe  here  this  inter- 
view— their  last.  They  were  not  allowed  to  exchange 
a  word;  the  tears  were  running  down  their  faces,  and 
all  were  reduced  to  the  likeness  of  skeletons.  A  father, 
Malyemezian,  was  allowed  to  kiss  his  child  of  nine  years 
old,  to  whom  he  said  in  an  audible  voice :  "My  dear,  they 
tortured  us  like  Jesus."  The  same  night  they  were  all 
transferred  to  Mezre. 

On  Wednesday,  June  23rd,  at  midday  I  returned  in 
terror  to  my  house  from  the  neighbours,  gathered  my 
children  round  me  and  prayed,  having  no  other  means 
of  consolation.  Araksi,  my  girl,  said:  "Mother,  your 
tears  and  pale  face  denote  that  the  Armenians  are  liv- 
ing through  critical  hours."  In  truth,  a  terrible  mas- 
sacre was  hanging  over  us. 

Before  the  exile  the  prisoners  were  searched,  and 
everything  found  on  them  was  taken  as  a  precaution, 
leaving  nothing  for  the  Kurds.  Those  who  were  badly 
flogged  were  sent  off  first  of  all,  in  carts,  but  the  carts 
returned  empty  within  half  an  hour. 

The  daytime  on  Thursday  was  as  silent  as  the  night ; 
nobody  was  to  be  seen  in  the  streets  but  the  young  boys 
bringing  home  the  blood-stained  clothes  of  their  rela- 
tions. 

On  June  24th  it  was  announced  by  a  town  crier  that 
it  was  the  women  and  girls'  turn  to  be  exiled.     The 


U  From  Turkish  Toils: 

iiiluibitants  of  AKzre  liad  to  leave  on  July  Ist,  2nd, 
and  3rd  in  the  direction  of  the  Arabian  deserts.  A 
small  caravan  was  sent  off  on  July  Ist,  and  on  the 
Srd  1,000  families  of  richer  class.  Heaven  and  earth 
were  full  of  their  cries  and  moans.  It  was  said  that 
they  were  to  be  transferred  under  guard  and  in  se- 
curity. 

On  July  4th  all  the  Armenian  inhabitants  at  Hus- 
einig,  without  exception,  were  sent  off,  but  at  a  little 
distance  from  the  city  they  separated  the  males  from 
the  females  and  killed  them  with  unheard-of  tortures. 

The  good-looking  women  and  girls  were  ravished  by 
the  Kaimakam,  the  Major,  and  some  other  Turkish 
officers,  while  the  ugly  ones  were  exiled  towards  Deir-el- 
Zur. 

On  July  5th  the  town  crier  announced  to  the  people 
that  they  were  to  be  ready  to  start  for  Arabia.  Few 
of  the  men  were  sorry,  hoping  by  this  means  to  be 
saved  from  Turkish  atrocities.  So  all  who  were  hidden 
came  out  of  their  hiding-places  and  all  were  sent  to 
exile,  even  those  of  15  years  of  age.  The  same  even- 
ing the  Turks  announced  with  joy  that  100,000  of  the 
enemy  had  been  massacred.  "We  have  massacred  our 
enemies;  our  enemies  have  been  massacred."  We  saw 
Armenian  women  wandering  about  and  climbing  up  the 
hill,  with  a  parcel  of  bread,  crying:  "Taken  away,  taken 
away !"  These  were  maddened  mothers  and  women  try- 
ing to  get  near  to  the  caravans,  which  w^ere  surrounded 
by  gendarmes.  The  caravans  consisted  of  people  who 
were  marched  along  in  rows  of  four.  All  were  killed 
the  same  day. 

On  July  7th  even  the  old  and  sick  were  not  spared; 


An  Armenian  Family's  Escape.  15 

they  were  beaten  and  mauled  about  the  streets.  Among 
them  were  IVIenneyan  Hagop  Agha  and  Kalnean  Sarkis 
Agha.  After  a  while  the  town  crier  announced  again 
that  there  was  nothing  to  be  afraid  of ;  everything  was 
over,  so  those  who  were  hidden  came  out  of  their  hiding- 
places,  but  they  were  soon  taken  away  and  killed. 

While  the  inhabitants  of  Kharpout  were  getting 
ready,  some  of  those  exiled  from  Erzinjan  and  Er- 
zeroum  arrived  and  urged  the  people  not  to  move  at  any 
cost.  The  people  were  aware  now  of  the  atrocities  com- 
mitted during  the  journey,  so  on  one  occasion  they 
rushed  to  the  Government  house,  shouting:  "Massacre 
us  here  and  not  in  exile." 

The  Government  issued  a  document  called  a  vesika^ 
the  bearer  of  which  was  permitted  to  stay  in  the  town. 
This  permit  was  for  a  short  time  only  and  the  veslka 
could  only  be  procured  by  means  of  bribes.  The  fol- 
lowing were  allowed  to  remain  in  the  city : — 

1.  Those  who  had  young  children. 

2.  Boys  under  thirteen  years  of  age. 

3.  Artisans  and  their  families. 

4.  Pregnant  women  whose  day  of  delivery  was  very 

near. 

5.  Families  of  medical  officers. 

Those  who  had  obtained  the  vesika  were  not  allowed 
to  appear  at  all;  otherwise  exile  and  death  was  likely  to 
be  their  fate. 

The  American  missionaries  put  their  buildings  at 
the  disposal  of  the  Armenians  to  keep  their  effects  in, 
but  the  Government  prevented  this  by  placing  the 
building  under  guard,  to  avoid  anytiiing  going  in  or 
coming  out. 


16  From  Turkish  Toils: 

Mr.  Riggs,  I^r.  Pariiifly,  and  Miss  Harlcj  wanted 
to  nccompany  the  j)eople  in  their  exile,  but  were  not  al- 
lowed. Dr.  Parniely  went  from  house  to  house  dis- 
tributing drugs  to  be  used  during  the  journey.  They 
did  whatever  they  could.  Mrs.  Henry  acted  truly  like 
an  angel.  Some  women  came  to  ask  my  opinion  about 
accepting  the  faith  of  Islam.  I  am  glad  to  announce 
that  nobody  did  so,  all  preferring  to  die  as  Chris- 
tians. 

The  Exile  of  Our  Family. 

While  these  things  were  happening  and  indescribable 
cruelties  and  severities  were  being  practised,  your  friend 
V.  sent  to  assure  us  that  there  was  no  danger  at  all; 
but  I  did  not  pay  the  least  attention,  presuming  that  a 
Turk  was  always  a  Turk.  Having  ascertained  every- 
thing myself,  I  applied  to  V.,  informing  him  that  I  did 
not  wish  to  go  into  exile,  and  at  his  suggestion  and  with 
the  help  of  your  friends  V.  and  M.,  succeeded  in  get- 
ting a  vesika. 

Some  days  later  thirteen  men  of  the  gendarmery 
made  the  following  proclamation  through  a  town  crier : 
"Everybody  is  to  open  his  house  door  and  let  us  sell  all 
his  effects  and  property.  We  shall  to-morrow  seal  all 
the  houses  and  nobody  will  be  allowed  to  take  anything 
out  of,  them."  The  doors  were  knocked  at  one  by 
one ;  we  opened  our  door  in  our  turn  and  everything  in 
the  house  was  sold  at  a  ridiculously  low  price.  Later 
on  Turkish  women  rushed  in  to  ransack  our  property. 

One  day  they  wrote  on  our  door:  "Exile."  When 
our  vesika  was  shown  to  them  by  my  young  boy,  they 
replied:  "The  Sultan  has  given  more   recent  orders." 


An  Armenian  Family's  Kscapc.  17 

Nothing  was  left  in  our  house,  so  that  our  Turkish 
friend  said:  "Now  Turkish  people  will  not  he  interested 
in  you." 


In  the  Costumes  of  Kurpistan. 

Mrs.  A.,  Mrs.  Derghazarian,  and  Mrs.  P'ilibosian 
called  me  in  in  great  haste.  The  mother-in-law  of  the 
latter  had  told  them  that  the  men  of  Kurdistan  were 
of  the  Sjriac  Church.  So  they  had  appealed  to  this 
Church  to  have  themselves  accepted  as  members.  Only 
the  family  of  Filibosian  were  approved  as  Syriacs, 
while  the  others  were  refused.  I  told  V.  and  K.  that, 
when  the  Armenians  were  massacred  twenty  years  ago, 
the  Turks  at  Mezre  protected  the  Armenians  there  and 
in  the  end  they  themselves  were  benefited  by  them.  The 
Kaimakam  had  lightened  the  tortures,  and  the  exile  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Kharpout  was  delayed  for  fifteen 
days,  when  the  notice :  "Exile,"  was  put  on  our  door. 

Accompanied  by  Mrs.  A.  and  our  Arsen,  I  went  to 
the  American  Hospital  at  Mezre,  and  from  there  ap- 
plied to  the  Kaimakam,  asking  him  if  there  was  a  means 
of  getting  free.  "It  is  necessary  to  adopt  the  religion 
of  Islam,"  replied  he  proudly.  But  when  I  refused 
his  proposal,  saying  that  it  was  impossible  for  me  to 
change  my  religion  like  a  shirt,  and  that  I  could  not 
deceive  God,  his  wife,  moved  by  a  feeling  of  pity,  asked 
her  husband  to  propose  something  else  to  us.  The 
Kaimakam  demanded  a  sum  of  £100.  I  returned  sor- 
rowfully to  the  hos])ital,  because  for  all  our  property, 
worth  £400  or  £500,  we  had  received  only  £15,  and 
we  had  already  bought  a  donkey  for  the  journey. 


18  From  Turkish  Toils: 

Dr.  Atkinson  admitted  my  girl  to  the  hospital  as  a 
nurse,  and  at  my  request  Yervant  was  admitted  as  a 
druggist,  and  Zenop  as  an  orderly.  I  myself  hastened 
back  to  Kliarpout.  It  was  necessary  to  send  them  to 
Mezre  before  dark.  Our  departure  was  as  sorrowful 
as  death.     We  were  all  weeping. 

At  the  last  moment  the  idea  occurred  to  me  to  try 
to  satisfy  the  Kaimakam  with  a  sum  of  £50  if  possible. 
I  asked  Dr.  Atkinson  to  advance  the  said  sum  and  he 
would  get  it  back  from  you.  As  soon  as  I  received 
the  money  from  the  kind-hearted  doctor,  I  called  im- 
mediately on  the  Kaimakam.  He  took  it  with  satisfac- 
tion shining  in  his  eyes  and  said  that  he  would  feign 
ignorance  of  our  presence,  and  that  we  must  hide  our- 
selves in  a  place  away  from  the  city. 

Our  joy  was  unbounded.  We  had  intended  to  go 
with  Arsen  to  the  hospital  to  hide  ourselves  there.  We 
got  the  indispensable  things  and  disguised  ourselves  as 
much  as  possible.  We  had  never  expected  that  our  sit- 
uation would  end  so  favourably.  We  were  to  spend  that 
night,  too,  all  near  one  another. 

Before  our  flight  from  Kharpout  it  was  necessary 
to  hide  all  our  photos.  We  placed  them  under  the 
ground  floor. 

Yervant  and  Zenop  were  all  the  time  concealed  in 
the  house,  hiding  themselves  by  day,  in  a  hole  three  to 
six  feet  deej),  only  coming  out  by  night  to  breathe  fresh 
air.  Araksi  and  I  had  to  manage  the  household  af- 
fairs. 

By  means  of  a  dirty  tarhush  or  a  torn  zuhun  (long 
Turkish  dress)  it  was  i)ossible  to  assume  the  appear- 
ance of  a  typical  Kurdish  child.     Yervant  put  on  a 


An  Armenian  Family's  Escape.  19 

short  zabun,  as  suggested  by  V.,  to  prevent  him  being 
taken  for  an  older  person. 

Arsen  was  altogetlier  disguised.  All  his  exertions 
manifested  his  endeavour  to  save  a  whole  family,  as 
he  went  to  the  Kainiakani  or  the  police,  applied  to  the 
Vali,  etc.  Your  child  acted  your  part  so  skilfully  that 
he  filled  the  place  you  left. 

FjFTEEN  Days  in  the  Hospital. 

On  Saturday,  July  16th,  two  days  after  our  removal 
to  the  hospital,  I  called,  with  my  two  girls  and  Arsen, 
at  my  sister's  to  see  her  husband  the  Reverend  A.  E., 
who  was  living  in  the  German  Girls'  Orphanage  under 
the  care  of  a  German-Swiss  missionary  (Tante 
Katarina)  to  avoid  being  sent  into  exile.  The  Reverend 
A.  E.  was  very  glad  of  this  arrangement,  but,  alas ! 
it  was  for  a  short  time  only.  Mr.  Ehemann,  the  Ger- 
man missionary,  four  days  after  our  arrival,  sent  to 
say  that  "he  could  not  undertake  the  responsibility  in 
case  a  search  was  made  for  Mrs.  Esther  and  her  six 
children  by  the  Government."  So  we  were  compelled 
to  leave.  The  Reverend  Asadur  wept  like  a  child  at  our 
departure. 

Dr.  Atkinson  cordially  welcomed  us.  Our  little  chil- 
dren were  admitted  as  playmates  for  his  little  ones.  The 
hospital  was  soon  crowded  with  Armenian  refugees, 
women  and  girls.  The  doctor  kindly  admitted  the 
crowd,  which  totalled  200  jiersons.  There  were  be- 
sides about  WO  wounded  Turkish  soldiers.  The  doctor 
a|)})ointed  the  Reverend  A.  and  me  as  overseers  to  these 
200  persons,  who  remained  there  as  hospital  orderlies. 


20  From  Turkish   Toils: 

Nobody  dared  to  leave  the  hospital  for  fear  of  being 
.seen.  Zeiiop  was  working  in  the  ceUar  with  the  doc- 
tor'n  child;  Vervant  as  the  assistant  to  the  druggist; 
Arsen  was  employed  in  bringing  water  on  a  donkey, 
80  wc  all  were  busy  and  had  something  to  do.  On  Sun- 
day, July  IHth,  the  exiles  from  the  upper  town  of 
Kharpout  passed  along  the  road  north  of  the  hospital. 
.Many  watched  their  ])arents  go  by  for  the  last  time, 
in  spite  of  strict  orders  from  the  doctor  forbidding  all 
to  watch  them. 

The  American  nurses,  who  watched  the  procession 
from  close  at  hand,  told  us  that  the  women  had  veiled 
their  faces  and  j)ut  on  shalvars.  Many  were  on  foot, 
and  some,  having  no  other  means  of  transport,  were  on 
donkeys.  The  young  children  stood  still  on  the  road, 
weeping  and  crying:  "Mother,  we  are  tired";  but  the 
stern  faces  of  the  gendarmes  and  the  blows  of  their 
whips  compelled  them  to  go  on  until  they  fainted  and 
fell  down.  The  lady  teachers  of  the  Euphrates  College 
had  veiled  their  faces.  When  asked  by  the  nurses  who 
they  were,  two  of  them  replied  that  they  were  Zaruhi 
Benneyan  and  Mariam  Tashdjian.  During  the  week 
the  exiles  from  the  other  districts  of  Kharpout  passed 
along  the  same  road. 

The  attention  of  the  Turks  was  then  directed  to- 
wards the  Armenians  in  the  hospital.  In  order  to  pro- 
tect the  lives  of  the  young  men  there,  Dr.  Atkinson 
assigned  them  a  large  room  in  his  house.  Later  the 
hospital  was  surrounded.  Miss  Campbell,  at  my  re- 
quest, gave  me  the  key  of  her  dormitory  and  ordered 
us  all  to  he  transferred  there  until  the  arrival  of  the 
news  which  she  was  ex])ecting  from  the  American  Con- 


An  Armenian  Family's  Escape.  21 

sul.  I  was  looking  after  my  children  when  Henry  en- 
tered breathlessly,  saying  that  Yervant  and  Arsen 
were  hidden  in  a  very  safe  place  and  that  we  had  noth- 
ing to  do  but  to  go  to  the  place  assigned  to  us. 

It  was  late  at  night  when  Miss  Campbell  came  in  and 
told  us  to  get  ready  to  go  to  the  American  Consulate. 
Within  ten  minutes  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Atkinson,  my  cliildren 
and  I,  and  Miss  Campbell  were  ready  to  go,  accom- 
panied by  a  Turkish  sergeant-major  belonging  to  the 
hospital. 

On  the  way  the  sentries  stopped  us  more  than  once, 
but  the  Turkish  sergeant-major  whispered  to  them,  and 
they  let  us  pass.  We  passed  the  night  on  a  carpet, 
seven  of  us  under  one  bed-cover.  In  tlie  morning,  when 
we  opened  the  windows,  the  wind  blew  the  smell  of  the 
corpses  towards  us  and  made  us  feel  quite  sick.  Our 
three  children  and  Professor  Luledjian  remained  hid- 
den by  day  in  a  room  in  the  upper  story  and  could  come 
down  to  breathe  some  fresh  air  only  by  night. 

The  professor  told  me  how  he  and  his  family  were 
saved  from  the  massacre  and  exile.  Miss  Campbell  was 
Scotch,  but  the  Government  recognised  her  as  an  Amer- 
ican. She  declared  to  him  that  she  loved  his  brother 
Levon  and  so  she  would  try  and  save  the  whole  family. 
"Please  allow  me,"  she  said,  "to  become  engaged  to 
Levon,  not  with  the  idea  of  getting  married,  but  to 
have  grounds  for  protecting  you  by  pretending  that  he 
is  my  betrothed.  I  cannot,  though  I  love  him,  force 
Levon  to  marry  me;  I  am  ten  years  older  than  he.  I 
want  to  make  him  my  betrotlied  so  as  to  save  him.  He 
can  afterwards  marry  anyone  he  likes."  This  lady; 
in  truth,  saved  the  whole  family,  accommodating  them 


22  From  Turkish  Toils: 

in  her  own  or  her  lady  friends'  houses.  Later,  an  op- 
portunity presented  itself  and  they  fled  to  Dersim. 

Let  me  tell  you  a  fact  that  should  be  mentioned  here. 
Professor  Soghigian  had  been  flogged  in  the  prison  and 
transferred  to  the  military  hospital  three  days  before 
the  exile.  After  he  had  somewhat  recovered  he  was 
sent  back  to  his  family,  but  his  experiences  had  left 
their  mark  and  he  ultimately  died,  though  a  natural 
death. 

A  few  days  after  our  taking  refuge  in  the  American 
Consulate  rumours  were  circulated  that  200  Armenians 
had  taken  refuge  there  and  that  the  Consul  had  been 
placed  in  a  very  difficult  position.  The  Capitulations 
had  been  annulled  and  his  attitude  was  uncertain.  Dur- 
ing this  time  Dr.  Atkinson  proposed  to  our  elder  girl 
that  she  should  work  in  the  hospital  (she  sometimes 
played  the  piano  for  the  patients).  The  same  day 
Yervant  also  was  admitted  as  druggist.  The  doctor 
took  Alice  and  Armine  to  his  house,  made  them  play- 
mates for  his  little  ones,  and  even  taught  them  Eng- 
lish. 

The  American  Consul  was  troubled  by  the  large  size 
of  our  family.  So  Arsen  passed  a  month  in  the  Swiss- 
German  Orphanage.  Zenop  and  I  remained  in  the  Con- 
sulate and  so  we  were  separated  from  each  other  for 
twenty-three  days,  but  we  were  tired  of  idleness.  Zenop 
was  appointed  later  on  hospital  orderly,  and  I  acted  as 
cook  in  the  kitchen  of  the  hospital.  Arsen  could  not 
bear  the  life  in  the  orphanage,  so  we  took  him  to  the 
hospital,  where  he  was  employed  as  a  carpenter's  ap- 
l)rentice.  We  were  all  together  now,  and  devoted 
whole-heartedly  to  our  work,  being  the  only  family  in 


An  Armenian  Family's  Escape.  23 

the  Kharpout  province  which  liad  been  saved  from  exile 
and  massacre. 

In  the  human  slaughter-house  (Kassabhane)  of 
Kharpout  tlic  Armenians  brought  down  from  Erzcroum 
and  Erzinjian  were  pitilessly  killed  with  axes,  spades, 
knives,  and  bayonets.  The  military  were  masters,  of 
everything.  The  Kavass  of  the  American  Consul  told 
the  following  story  of  what  he  had  witnessed  one  day 
during  a  walk : — 

"To  the  south  of  Mezre,  one  to  one  and  a  half  hours' 
walk  away,  very  many  mothers  had  been  cut  to  pieces 
and  lay  swimming  in  their  blood ;  wounded  children  were 
screaming;  little  babies  of  eight  to  nine  months  old  hung 
on  the  breasts  of  their  mothers ;  hundreds  of  corpses 
were  scattered  everywhere,  from  among  which  came 
moans  and  cries  of  agony,  some  calling:  'Water! 
water !'  Mr.  Picha[  ?],  an  Austrian,  the  Director  of  the 
Ottoman  Bank,  overcome  by  the  scene,  wept  like  a  child 
and  galloped  away.    Mr.  Davies  also  accompanied  us." 

On  one  occasion  a  child  of  fifteen  years  old,  Hrand 
Mughalian,  was  brought  to  the  hospital  with  five  sword- 
wounds  in  his  hand  and  two  bullet  wounds  in  his  loins. 
The  kind-hearted  doctor  attended  him  and  restored  him 
to  consciousness.  When  he  had  to  some  extent  recov- 
ered he  told  the  following  story: — 

"Four  hours  away  from  Kharpout  they  led  the 
caravan  of  exiles,  which  consisted  entirely  of  members 
of  the  Shagalian  and  Mughalian  families,  down  into  a 
valley  and  there  fired  on  and  bayoneted  them.  I  fainted 
and  fell  down.  They  examined  the  corpses  to  ascertain 
if  they  were  all  dead.  A  few  hours  later,  when  I  had 
recovered  consciousness,  I  fled  in  terror  from  the  valley. 


24  From  Turkish  Toils: 

My  feet  were  not  wounded  but  they  were  not  strong 
enough  to  carry  me.  A  little  farther  on  I  met  an  old 
man  who  allowed  me  to  ride  on  his  donkey  and  brought 
me  here  to  the  door  of  the  hospital  and  told  me  to  go 
in.*' 

Some  of  the  Armenians  who  had  remained  in  the  Ger- 
man Orphanage  asked  Mr.  Ehemann  to  send  a  telegram 
to  the  Missionaries  in  Urfa  to  find  out  whether  their 
relatives  had  arrived  there.  Here  is  the  reply  given  to 
the  telegram: — "The  exiles  have  not  arrived  here,  and 
will  not  arrive  either.  That  is  the  fate  that  was  in- 
tended for  them." 

More  than  ten  persons,  who  were  wounded  during 
the  exile,  were  brought  to  the  hospital,  among  them  a 
child  seven  years  old,  shot  in  the  head,  with  the  bullet 
still  in  his  skull.  A  carpenter  from  Habusi  named 
Brother  ^larsub,  who  had  received  forty-three  bayonet 
wounds,  was  hardly  able  to  drag  himself  to  the  hospital. 
The  doctor  healed  him.  This  is  what  Brother  Marsub 
related : — 

"They  bound  us  and  took  us  to  a  place  far  from  the 
village,  where  our  graves  had  been  dug.  We  had  no 
means  of  defending  ourselves.  The  gendarmes  bay- 
oneted us  one  by  one  and  pushed  us  into  the  graves. 
After  several  blows  I  fainted,  and,  w^hen  I  recovered 
consciousness,  found  myself  covered  with  earth."  The 
Turks  established  an  orphanage  for  the  young  children 
in  the  village,  but  later,  thinking  it  unnecessary  to  feed 
them,  put  them  into  carts,  took  them  off  and  killed  them 
with  swords  and  axes. 

Itchme  was  also  subjected  to  a  massacre.  The  males 
of  Habusi  were  killed  in  a  building  near  the  church  of 


An  Armenian  Family's  Escape.  25 

Itchme  after  bcin^  tortured  for  ten  days.  Mr.  Aram- 
saradjian  was  one  of  them.  Tlie  village  of  Morenig, 
where  Turkish  deserters  were  hidden,  was  burnt,  and  it 
was  said  that  they  were  Armenian  Fedai  (revolution- 
aries), and  those  who  attempted  to  flee  from  the  fire 
were  shot.  After  a  short  examination  it  was  found  that 
they  were  Turks.  We  could  see  the  burning  villages 
clearly  from  the  windows  of  the  hospital. 

Mr.  Setrak  Zulumian  had  volunteered  to  try  and  get 
through  to  Russia  with  his  two  friends  and  tell  them  of 
the  miserable  state  of  the  Armenians,  but  the  Turkish 
soldiers  killed  them  near  Habusi.  All  the  holy  places 
were  burnt  and  ruined. 

Harutun  of  Palu,  a  young  boy  twelve  years  old,  re- 
lated that  his  friends  of  the  same  age  were  taken  away, 
tied  together  in  fours,  and  killed  by  having  their  heads 
crushed  with  stones. 

The  Second  Raid  on  the  Hospital. 

The  Reverend  A.,  his  wife  and  his  four  children  had 
taken  refuge  in  the  hospital.  At  first  my  elder  girl 
was  appointed  as  assistant  to  the  nurses,  but  when  she 
was  expert  enough  a  large  ward,  where  there  were  two 
senior  officers,  three  captains  and  three  kolaghasis,  all 
of  Turkish  nationality,  was  placed  under  her  charge. 
The  Turkish  sergeant  considered  the  pastor  Dervartan 
and  me  as  obstacles  to  the  realization  of  his  immoral  in- 
clinations. 

One  day  at  dinner-time  all  the  nurses  rushed  out  to 
see  the  policemen  who  were  walking  on  the  balcony.  My 
elder  girl  saw  that  I,  Arsen,  and  many  Armenians  had 


26  From  Turkish  Toils: 

been  arrested  and  were  being  taken  to  the  prison ;  how- 
ever, h\\v  kept  her  presence  of  mind.  The  sergeant  had 
betrayed  us  and  the  hospital  was  cleared  out.  An 
Arab  officer  hid  Zenop  under  his  bedstead.  Yervant  was 
in  the  pharmacy. 

The  Turkish  sick  were  very  pleased  at  the  arrest  of 
the  Armenians.  A  Turkish  officer,  who  had  ravished 
Professor  Vorperian's  girl,  declared:  "We  have  pro- 
claimed to  the  world  that  the  Armenians  have  revolted, 
that  a  large  quantity  of  bombs  and  grenades  was  dis- 
covered, etc.,  only  in  order  to  justify  our  actions.  Our 
purpose  has  been  to  exterminate  the  Armenians  since 
the  day  when  Boghos  Pasha  Xubar  introduced  the  Ar- 
menian question  to  the  European  Governments.  The 
abolition  of  the  Capitulations  was  a  blessing  to  us  for 
the  realisation  of  our  object.  If  our  purpose  had  been 
to  punish  only  the  offenders,  the  people  would  have  been 
spared."  Some  other  officers  declared:  "The  Russians 
also  do  not  like  Armenians,  even  though  they  assist 
them,"  and  so  on. 

A  few  days  later  we  were  released,  with  the  workers 
in  the  hospital.  It  was  the  first  time  that  Armenian 
prisoners  had  been  released.  During  these  days  the 
doctor  called  me  and  gave  me  your  letter.  Our  joy  was 
unbounded.  I  asked  him  to  put  a  large  room  at  our 
disposal.  There  we  celebrated  Yervant's  birthday  and 
the  receipt  of  your  letter.  The  meeting  was  presided 
over  by  the  doctor.  Yervant  played  the  violin ;  Arsen 
accompanied  him  on  the  flute.  The  nurses  asked  the 
doctor  to  allow  Araksi  to  sing  the  "Grung  Tchan" 
("My  Lovely  Crane"),  by  Gomidas  Vartabed,  and  she 
sang  the  song  in  a  thrilling  voice. 


An  Armenian  Family's  Escape.         27 

Sing,  tliou  crane,  sing, 

While  the  spring  is  still  here; 

The  heart  of  the  Armenian  exile 

Is  bleeding. 

Lovely  crane,  lovely  crane,  it  is  spring, 

But,  Oh !  my  heart  is  bleeding ! 

All  the  Armenians  in  the  room  wept,  feeling  that  the^ 
v\'ere  really  orphans  now. 

The  next  day,  as  we  were  allowed  to  live  in  free- 
dom, I  hired  a  house,  where  Arsen,  Alice,  Armine,  and  I 
lived. 

Mr.  Riggs  and  Mr.  Ehemann  applied  to  the  Vali  to 
have  a  telegram  sent  asking  for  pardon  for  the  remnant 
of  the  Armenians.  The  Vali  said :  "There  remains  only 
one  means  of  executing  your  request.  I  can  send  a 
telegram  saying  that  the  offenders  have  gone.  Those 
that  remain  are  innocent ;  imperial  pardon."  On  this 
reply  they  did  not  persist  in  their  request,  foreseeing 
that  the  result  would  not  do  good. 

My  Second  Imprisonment. 

On  November  4th  the  day  was  so  bright  that  the 
majority  of  the  nurses  and  orderlies  went  out  for  a 
walk.  I  was  busy  in  the  house  preparing  bread  when 
Araksi  came  to  see  me.  Zenop  had  come  also.  On  his 
way  back  he  was  arrested  by  the  police.  I  put  aside  all 
my  work  and  was  going  in  haste  to  inform  the  Consul, 
but  the  gendarmes  stopped  me,  and  when  I  wanted  to 
call  on  the  doctor,  they  arrested  me.  Araksi  also  was 
arrested  by  the  same  gendarme  who  had  arrested  Pro- 
fessor Museghian,  the  teacher  in  the  German  School. 
Dr.  Atkinson  fortunately  met  Araksi  and  told  the  gen- 


28  From  'J'lirkish  Toils: 

darme  that  slic  was  utw  uf  his  nurses  in  the  hospital. 
A  little  later,  two  officers  who  had  enjoyed  her  care  in 
the  hospital  warned  her,  saying :  "Mademoiselle  Araksi, 
beware  of  going  to  the  hospital ;  the  Armenians  in  the 
hospital  will  all  be  wiped  out."  Finally  she  took  refuge 
at  Osman  EfFendi's,  where  Arsen  and  the  orderly  Penia- 
min  were  put  up  also. 

Later  we  succeeded  in  sending  news  of  our  situation 
to  Dr.  Atkinson,  and  he  promised  to  come  and  take  us 
away  at  nightfall.  An  officer  named  Mehmed,  who  had 
been  attended  by  Araksi  in  the  hospital,  tried  to  take 
Araksi  to  his  house,  telling  her  that  Zenop  and  I  had 
luen  rescued  and  were  waiting  there  for  lier.  Araksi 
did  not  fall  into  tliis  trap,  and  Osman  Effendi  did  not 
persist  any  further.  Afterwards  she  managed  to  get  to 
Professor  Luledjian's  house,  where  she  saw  Miss  Camp- 
bell. Arsen  followed  ^lehmed  Effendi,  expecting  to  find 
me  in  his  house.  Dr.  Atkinson  and  Miss  Campbell  took 
them  to  the  hospital  with  two  other  officers. 

I  was  released  at  about  nine  o'clock  by  the  personal 
intervention  of  the  Consul,  in  w^hose  house  I  was  accom- 
modated for  three  days.  All  my  children,  except 
Araksi,  were  in  the  house  of  a  Syriac.  A  few  days  later 
we  were  all  near  one  another.  The  Consul  succeeded  in 
getting  a  written  promise  from  the  Government,  say- 
ing: "Mrs.  Mugerditchian  and  her  six  children  will  not 
be  exiled  at  all." 

A  Turkish  captain  in  the  hospital,  Khulusi  Bey,  be- 
coming angry  with  Dr.  Atkinson,  sent  a  report  to  the 
Government  saying  that  "he  kept  the  family  of  the 
British  Consul  in  his  house."  As  a  result  he  himself  was 
expelled  from  the  hospital. 


An  Armenian  Family's  Escape.         29 

We  celebrated  the  New  Year,  1915,  in  our  house. 
Here  Zenop  and  Araksi  caught  typhoid.  Arsen  was 
employed  in  a  cigarette-paper  factory,  where  he  earned 
twenty  piastres  a  day,  but  one  day  two  of  his  finger- 
tips were  cut  by  the  implement  of  an  inexperienced 
man. 

The  Burning  of  the  Prison. 

There  were  still  some  Armenian  prisoners  in  the 
prison  of  Mezre  awaiting  trial  before  the  courtmartial. 
They  were  Dr.  Nishan  Fermanian ;  Mr.  Edward,  the 
druggist ;  Mr.  Yean ;  Dervartan,  the  pastor ;  and  linger 
Garo.  The  latter's  body  was  pricked  with  needles,  in 
order  to  get  him  to  disclose  some  secrets.  After  the 
exile  of  the  males  and  females  the  gendarmes  called 
these  prisoners  out  of  the  gaol,  but  they,  knowing  that 
they  would  be  killed  after  unbearable  tortures,  refused 
to  come  out  and  declared  that  they  preferred  to  die  in 
the  prison.  The  building  was  then  set  on  fire  and  those 
who  attempted  to  escape  were  shot. 

The  State  of  the  Exiles. 

Mariam  Simonian,  our  neighbour's  daughter,  of  four- 
teen years  of  age,  told  the  following  story: — "They 
took  us  from  Kharpout  to  Malatia,  where  they  sep- 
arated the  males  from  the  females,  and  transferred  us  to 
Frinjik,  a  village  two  days'  walk  from  Malatia,  where 
they  undressed  us  all  without  exception.  Some  men  in 
female  clothing  were  discovered ;  these  they  killed  before 
our  eyes.  Hagop,  the  young  son  of  the  Kaloyan  fam- 
ily, was  butchered  like  a  sheep  at  his  mother's  knees ;  at 


80  From  Turkish  Toils: 

t!u'  same  time  they  forced  his  mother  to  shout: 
'Fadinhah  tchok  yasha*  ('Lon^  live  the  Sultan'). 

'•All  the  good-looking  girls  and  young  ladies  were 
violated;  even  tiie  girls  of  eleven  or  twelve  years  of  age 
were  tortured.  Some  women  were  hung  from  the  trees 
and  flayed.  The  same  thing  befell  Busak  Vartabed,  the 
[American  Evangelical]  Bishop  in  Mezre.  Numerous 
children  were  killed  with  bayonets.  The  family  of  Ben- 
neyan,  the  wife  of  Dr.  Nigoghoss,  the  daughters  of  Tul- 
gadentzi,  and  the  family  of  Tenekedjian  died  of  starva- 
tion in  the  desert.  We  were  dragged  for  five  months 
hither  and  thither  and  at  last  brought  to  Malatia, 
whence  I  escaped  and  came  here." 

Mrs.  Paylun,  the  daughter-in-law  of  Fabrikatvrian, 
told  the  following  tale: — 

"On  our  arrival  at  Urfa  we  told  everything  that  had 
happened  to  us.  So  the  inhabitants  of  Urfa  preferred 
death  to  exile.  Miss  Khanim  Ketcnjian,  the  daughter 
of  the  richest  family  and  a  graduate  of  the  Euphrates 
College,  joined  the  Armenian  fighters  and  shot  twenty 
to  thirty  Turkish  gendarmes,  and  then  she  herself  be- 
came a  martyr.  The  Government  could  do  nothing  un- 
til they  had  the  guns  brought  from  Adana.  So,  at  the 
command  of  German  officers  and  artillerymen,  the  Ar- 
menians in  Urfa  were  wiped  out." 

Mrs.  Egsha  Totovian  described  how  they,  a  caravan 
of  exiles  composed  of  a  thousand  of  the  richer  families, 
were  placed  in  the  khans,  and  then  the  men  were  sep- 
arated from  the  women  and  were  all  killed.  The  women 
were  panic-stricken  and  fled,  leaving  behind  them  all 
their  belongings,  ornaments,  and  valuables,  in  order  to 
save  their  lives. 


82  From  Turkish  Toils: 

Once  rumours  were  circulated  that  famine  was  pre- 
vailing in  Russia.  The  reason,  which  was  understood 
later,  for  this  rumour  was  as  follows.  Shouts  of: 
**yrcjt  vrejr  (Armenian  for  "vengeance")  were  con- 
tinually lieard  from  the  Russian  Army.  The  Turkish 
(*ommander,  not  understanding  the  meaning  of  this, 
inquired  of  an  Armenian  artillery  officer  from  Con- 
stantinople. "Sir,"  the  latter  replied,  "the  Russians 
ask  for  bread."  So  the  Commander  was  very  pleased, 
thinking  that  the  Russians  were  suffering  from  a  short- 
age of  bread. 

Another  day  rumours  arose  that  the  Pope  had  inter- 
vened on  belialf  of  the  Armenian  Catholics,  and  that  a 
pardon  had  been  granted  to  the  Roman  Catholics.  The 
same  rumours  went  round  about  the  Protestants,  too, 
but  those  who  came  out  of  their  hiding-places  were  taken 
outside  the  city  and  were  killed. 

Even  if  these  rumours  were  true  they  were  kept 
secret  for  eight  or  ten  days,  until  the  Armenians  of  all 
sects  had  been  exterminated.  Special  overseers  were 
appointed  for  those  who  were  charged  with  the  carry- 
ing out  of  the  massacre.  They  waited  for  some  time 
to  make  sure  if  the  victims  were  all  dead.  The  wounded 
in  whom  any  sign  of  life  was  noticed  were  killed  with 
spades,  axes,  knives,  and  bayonets. 

On  December  18th,  1915,  Dr.  Atkinson  caught 
typhoid.  Araksi  attended  him  at  nights.  The  doctor 
died  within  six  days,  on  the  night  of  the  23rd.  Some  of 
the  Armenian  artisans  made  a  fine  coffin  of  walnut  for 
him.  The  Government  sent  a  company  of  soldiers,  and 
a   carriage   was   to   have   been    provided,   but    the    Ar- 


An  Armenian  Family's  Escape.         33 

menians  refused  it  and  bore  the  coffin  on  their  slioul- 
ders. 

The  death  of  the  doctor  was  a  bad  blow  for  the  sur- 
viving Armenians  ;  he  was  our  last  hope  and  refuge.  Be- 
fore his  death  he  said  to  his  wife  in  my  presence:  "I 
am  sorrier  for  the  Armenians  than  for  you.  I  am  glad 
to  die,  because  this  life  is  not  worth  living;  but  I  was 
needed  by  these  poor  Armenians.    Your  future  is  safe." 

A  Betrayai.. 

An  Armenian  lady,  N.,  who  was  supposed  to  be  of 
middle  but  honourable  class,  and  the  sergeant  were  ex- 
pelled from  the  hospital  for  their  illicit  conduct.  The 
next  day  twelve  young  men  working  in  the  hospital  were 
arrested  for  military  service.  The  sergeant  had  be- 
trayed them,  and,  owing  to  the  desertion  of  six  on  the 
preceding  night,  it  was  a  difficult  task  to  save  the  re- 
mainder. The  intention  was  to  send  them  to  the  Labour 
Battalion.  The  major,  having  heard  of  the  desertion 
of  some,  put  the  remainder  under  strict  guard.  Our 
Yervant  was  one  of  them.  The  sergeant  in  charge  re- 
ceived strict  orders  to  flog  them,  but  the  men  made 
friends  with  him.  When  the  major  asked  the  sergeant 
if  he  was  beating  them,  he  replied  that  he  was  beating 
them  to  death  and  they  could  not  move.  He  told  the 
boys  to  lie  down  and  moan  as  if  they  were  ill. 

There  yet  remained  three  days  before  Yervant  was  to 
leave.  All  my  applications  to  the  Commandant  re- 
mained without  result.  I  applied  to  the  sergeant-major 
to  allow  Yervant  to  pass  the  night  with  us.  He  brought 
him  at  night  and  handed  him  over  to  us.     We  did  not 


84  From  Turkish  Toils: 

sleep  all  through  that  night.  It  seemed  the  last  for  us 
to  be  together. 

I  at  once  sent  a  letter  to  V.  Effendi  through  an  or- 
phan, and  asked  him  to  come.  We  decided  to  apply 
personally  to  the  Commandant,  Muheddin  Bcj.  It  was 
long  before  midday  when  Araksi  and  I  called  on  him. 
He  received  us  politely  and  at  our  request  he  promised 
to  release  Yervant  to  work  in  the  hospital  in  military 
uniform. 

V.  Effendi  interceded  for  Yervant  with  the  men  in 
authority  in  the  town,  and  at  my  request  sent  a  letter 
to  an  important  official. 

The  same  night  Yervant  came  home  suddenly.  Our 
joy  was  unbounded.  A  few  days  afterwards  he  put  on 
military  uniform  and  started  his  work.  He  was  now 
(juite  free,  whereas  before  he  had  not  been  able  to  leave 
the  building.  Two  more  were  released  with  Yervant. 
These  events  must  be  regarded  as  nothing  short  of 
miracles. 

Zenop  in  Dersim. 

As  the  arrest  of  Yervant  was  a  good  lesson  to  us, 
we  hastened  to  send  Zenop  off  to  Dersim  by  the  help 
of  the  Kurds,  because  Zenop  was  always  taken  from  his 
appearance  to  be  older  than  Yervant.  Professor  Kh. 
did  his  best  for  us  in  this  matter,  and  bargained  with 
an  old  woman  to  have  Zenop  taken  safely  to  Dersim  for 
£10. 

We  could  not  sleep  until  his  first  letter  was  received, 
which  read  as  follows : — 

"I  have  arrived  here  safely.     I  have  made  arrange- 


An  Armenian  Family's  Escape.         35 

ments  for  yen  too  with  the  Kurds,  who  will  deliver  my 
letter.     Start  at  once." 

But  as  Erzinjan  had  not  yet  been  captured  by  the 
Russians,  we  did  not  dare  to  start.  The  American  Con- 
sul also  objected  to  our  plan,  saying  that  there  was  no 
fear  for  women,  but  nothing  could  be  done  for  the  boys 
above  thirteen  years  and  for  those  who  had  already  been 
enrolled. 

The  Consul  was  probably  right  in  saying  so,  as  an 
irade  was  twice  issued  by  the  Sultan  to  put  to  the  sword 
all  male  Armenians  above  the  age  of  thirteen  years,  and 
the  Executioners'  Government  of  th^  Young  Turks  car- 
ried out  the  orders  strictly,  in  accordance  wi.h  a  pre- 
arranged plan. 

I  had  sufficient  ground  for  fear.  The  German  Consul 
had  twice  asked  the  Vali  to  have  me  imprisoned,  from 
which,  I  understood  from  a  reliable  source,  I  was  twice 
miraculously  saved.  He  demanded  my  death,  asserting 
that,  if  I  remained  alive  and  free,  I  would  tell  after- 
wards of  all  the  atrocities  I  had  witnessed. 

There  was  no  other  means.  With  the  fear  of  impend- 
ing death  before  me,  I  decided  to  go  to  Dersim  with  all 
my  children. 

Our  Flight  to  Dersim. 

Four  thousand  cavalry  came  from  Constantinople. 
Sentries  were  put  all  along  the  Euphrates.  There  was 
absolutely  no  getting  to  Dersim.  I  sent  this  letter  in 
cipher  to  Zenop : — 

"Dear  Zenop, — Let  us  know  as  soon  as  Erzinjan  is 
captured  by  the  Russians." 


86  From  Turkish  Toils: 

After  some  days  passed  in  anxiety,  I  received  sud- 
denly a  letter  from  Zenop  informing  me  that  the  Kurds 
had  opened  a  way  to  Dersim.  The  messengers  told  us 
that  the  Kurds  who  had  come  were  famous  Beys  and 
could  take  us  safely  anywhere. 

The  same  day  Professor  Kh.  called  on  us  and  en- 
couraged us  in  our  audacious  plan  and  said:  "I  would 
like  to  escape  too,  if  my  children  were  not  so  young." 
We  had  to  sell  all  we  had.  Professor  Kh.  at  once 
bought  our  things  at  high  prices  and  paid  in  advance. 
Some  of  the  surviving  Armenians  suggested  the  plan  to 
us. 

News  had  been  received  the  day  before  that  Erzinjan 
had  been  captured  by  the  Russians  and  that  the  Turks 
had  massacred  all  the  Armenian  artisans  who  were  left 
there.  We  had  only  one  reason  for  hesitation,  and  that 
was  the  insecurity  of  the  passes. 

I  called  on  the  Consul  and  asked  for  the  money  that 
I  had  entrusted  to  him.  He  said  I  was  going  to  endan- 
ger my  life  for  the  sake  of  my  children.  My  reply  was 
very  simple:  I  told  him  that  I  lived  for  them  alone.  I 
entrusted  a  few  things  to  him. 

We  prepared  everything  as  soon  as  possible,  and  were 
ready  to  start  at  dark.  A  rendezvous  was  arranged 
where  we  gathered  by  ones  or  twos,  and  from  there  we 
started.  We  took  a  few  small  bundles  and  two  Bibles. 
We  were  disguised  to  avoid  recognition.  When  it  was 
quite  dark  the  three  Kurdish  Beys  arrived  at  the  ren- 
dezvous. We  loaded  on  to  the  mules  our  luggage,  which 
consisted  of  three  little  blankets  and  a  little  saddle-bag 
and  our  clothes.  The  Kurds  gave  us  two  mules  and  a 
horse,  on  which  the  luggage  of  four  families  wa§  loaded, 


An  Armenian  Family's  Escape.         37 

and  the  Reverend  Bedro's  sick  wife  rode  on  one  of  the 
animals.  Yervant  was  obliged  to  carry  some  of  the  load 
on  his  shoulder. 

We  walked  four  or  five  hours  without  interruption. 
I  became  exhausted,  and  the  Kurds,  at  the  request  of 
the  children,  gave  me  a  horse.  Yervant,  Arsen  and 
Araksi  walked  for  thirteen  hours  through  the  night. 
Alice  and  Armine  travelled  partly  on  foot  and  partly  on 
horseback.  On  the  road  to  Dersim,  as  you  know,  there 
are  many  ascents  and  descents.  We  had  to  pass  four 
hills  in  one  night.  No  talking  was  allowed.  At  10 
a.m.  we  arrived  at  the  groves  of  the  village  of  Khozig, 
where,  after  taking  breakfast,  we  slept  for  half  an 
hour. 

The  Kurds  woke  us  suddenly,  saying  that  we  were  be- 
trayed, and,  trembling,  we  started  again.  We  had 
taken  off  our  boots  and  wrapped  our  feet  in  rags,  but 
they  were  worn  out  before  our  arrival  at  Khozig.  We 
began  to  walk  barefoot  through  the  stones  and  thorns. 
It  should  be  mentioned  that  the  Kurds  were  fully 
equipped,  and  that  besides  the  three  some  others  ac- 
companied us  now  and  then.  The  journey  was  exceed- 
ingly trying,  but  the  hope  of  liberty  and  safety  en- 
couraged us  all.  Sometimes  we  encouraged  each  other 
with  the  hope  of  being  in  a  free  land,  in  Russia,  very 
soon. 

Yervant  and  Arsen  carried  Armine  on  their  shoulders 
in  turn,  but  neither  the  stones  and  thorns  on  the  road 
nor  our  weariness  could  dishearten  us.  The  Kurds 
cheered  us,  saying  that  we  were  three  hours'  walk  from 
our  destination,  but  it  was  the  same  refrain  repeated 
throughout  the  journey.    It  would  seem  that  the  time  of 


88  From  Turkish  Toils: 

the  Kurds  is  quite  different  from  ours.  After  two 
nights  jmm]  o?u'  miuI  a  half  days  we  arrived  safely  at 
Dersini. 

The  Journey  to  Russia. 

We  arrived  at  the  bank  of  the  Euphrates.  The 
Turks  had  sunk  all  the  barges,  so  we  were  obliged  to 
cross  the  river  by  apat.  The  apat  is  a  means  of  trans- 
port on  the  P^uphratcs  made  of  three  or  four  beams  tied 
together.  The  Reverend  Bedros  lost  his  balance  and 
might  have  been  drowned  if  the  Kurds,  who  are  expert 
swimmers,  had  not  saved  him.  There  was  no  time  to 
ciiange  liis  wet  clothes.  We  were  in  a  hurry  to  escape 
from  the  land  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  the  land  of 
ruin. 

Having  arrived  at  a  village  two  hours  away  from 
the  Euphrates,  we  hired  fresh  mules  at  very  high  rates. 
The  inhabitants  were  very  wild  people  and  the  village 
was  a  den  of  robbers.  The  people  stared  hard  at  us  and 
were  evidently  looking  for  some  opportunity  of  robbing 
us.  Now  we  were  all  an  mules  except  Yervant,  who 
walked  in  order  to  help  us  now  and  then. 

The  Kurds  treated  us  very  kindly  until  we  arrived 
at  the  bank  of  the  Euphrates,  but  when  we  passed  into 
the  Kurdish  land  they  became  dictatorial  to  us.  The 
young  men  played  on  the  flute  and  some  of  us  sang, 
and  so  we  lightened  the  discomforts  of  the  journey. 
And  when  "God  the  Indomitable"  was  sung,  many  refu- 
gees came  out  of  their  hiding-places  and  joined  us,  thus 
making  up  a  numerous  caravan,  composed  of  twenty- 
five  persons. 

We  felt  ourselves  free  now,  walking  in  a  free  land 


An  Armenian  Family's  Escape.         39 

and  breathing  free  air.  A  little  time  before  we  had 
all  been  too  exhausted,  not  only  to  walk,  but  even  to 
ride  on  the  mules ;  but  now  we  had  forgotten  all  in 
breaking  with  songs  and  flute-playing  the  silence  which 
terror  had  imposed  on  us  for  years. 

One  of  the  Kurdish  Beys,  on  the  pretext  of  reliev- 
ing one  of  the  mules,  took  some  of  the  load  and  put  it 
on  his  mule,  for  which  service  he  charged  us  £10. 

We  passed  the  night  on  the  side  of  a  hill  in  the  open 
air  without  beds,  and  after  sleeping  for  three  or  three 
and  a  half  hours,  we  started  again  at  dawn.  At  11 
p.m.  the  Armenians  of  Dersim  welcomed  us  like  wed- 
ding-guests, at  their  village  of  Agtchunig.  I  must  men- 
tion that  we  were  entertained  in  the  house  of  Kaimakam 
Jemil  EfFendi,  your  ex-messenger. 

The  Kurds  in  Agtchunig  insisted  on  having  all  our 
things  sold,  saying  that  everything  could  be  obtained 
in  abundance  in  Erzinjan.  We  already  had  nothing 
left.  The  things  kept  in  the  bed  covers  were  sold  for  £4. 
I  had  £6  in  cash. 

Then  we  started  with  five  donkeys  for  the  country- 
house  of  Idure,  also  called  Ibrahim,  who  was  to  guide 
us  to  Erzinjan,  but  he  had  left  three  hours  before  our 
arrival.  We  were  entertained  by  Mrs.  Yazedjian  of 
Tchemeshgadzak,  who  put  her  hut  at  our  disposal. 

Jafar,  Idure's  nineteen-year-old  brother,  when  lifting 
up  our  sacks  to  guess  the  contents,  took  it  into  his  head 
that  there  were  thousands  of  pounds  in  them,  and  cir- 
culated false  rumours  that  a  family  with  thousands  of 
pounds'  v:rth  of  wealth  had  come.  So,  with  several 
fools  like  himself,  he  fell  upon  us   to  rob  us  of  our 


40  From  Turkish  Toils: 

things,  juKt  when  we  were  going  to  start  with  a  fresh 
caravan  of  Armenians  for  Erzinjan. 

Saidkhan,  the  son  of  Ihrahim  Agha  from  Khodju- 
shagi,  rohhed  me  of  my  gold  watch.  The  same  morn- 
ing Zenop,  with  an  Armenian  boy  called  Luther,  left 
for  Erzinjan  to  inform  Ibrahim  Agha  and  Mr.  Yazed- 
jian  what  had  happened  to  us. 

Araksi  and  Arsen  resolved  to  try  and  go  in  disguise 
to  Beghavud  to  tell  the  Armenians  and  to  have  us 
rescued  from  this  robbers'  den.  They  were  so  skilfully 
disguised  that  I  could  not  recognize  them.  They  re- 
maiced  at  Beghavud  until  I  received  a  letter  in  the 
evening  from  Mr.  Kaspar  Boyadjian,  one  of  the  teach- 
ers in  the  Euphrates  College,  advising  me  to  leave  with 
Kasho,  the  Agha  of  Beghavud.  I  paid  £4  10s.  for  a 
four  hours'  walk. 

It  was  night  when  we  started  to  go  to  Zogha.  We 
passed  the  night  in  that  village.  The  following  day, 
at  noon,  we  arrived  at  Ovadjik;  having  hired  some 
mules  there,  we  climbed  up  the  Merjan  Boghazi.  It 
was  impossible  to  move  a  step  without  a  guide,  even 
on  the  lower  slopes  of  the  mountain.  It  was  a  dan- 
gerous pass.  The  rivers,  marshes,  and  rivulets  fol- 
lowed each  other.  At  last  we  arrived  at  Muzur,  a  rapid 
river,  the  bridge  of  which,  consisting  only  of  a  beam, 
filled  us  with  fear;  but  it  was  not  the  first  time  that 
the  shadow  of  death  had  lain  over  us.  It  was  3  a.m. 
when  we  arrived  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  and  we  had  to 
climb  it  without  rest. 

Towards  evening  we  met  the  Russian  sentries,  who 
welcomed  us  with  joy.  We  had  travelled  for  eighteen 
hours,   so  all  were  exhausted.      It   was   the   middle   of 


An  Armenian  Family's  Escape.         41 

August,  and  a  cold,  strong  wind  was  blowing.  We 
felt  cold  even  in  the  corner  where  we  had  taken  shelter. 
It  was  therefore  deemed  advisable  to  walk.  ^ 

After  three  hours  we  arrived  at  the  top  of  the  moun- 
tain, which  was  9,500  feet  above  the  sea-level,  and 
passed  the  night  there.  Here  fifteen  persons  huddled 
up  together  to  get  warmth  and  sleep.  We  were  for- 
tunate enough  to  meet  a  Russo-Armcnian,  named  Kri- 
kor,  who  made  us  wait  until  the  dawn.  He  gave  us  his 
bed-cover. 

In  the  morning  he  himself  took  us  to  a  group  of 
Russian  soldiers,  who  were  cooking,  and  entertained 
us  with  tea.  The  Russian  sentries  treated  us  so  gently 
that  we  forgot  for  some  time  the  terrors  of  Turkey. 
They  supplied  us  with  bread  and  sugar  in  abundance. 
It  was  here  that  our  little  Armine  learned  the  first 
Russian  phrase:  ^'Dava'i  stakdn''  (give  ms  the  teacup). 

After  having  rested  sufficiently,  Mr.  Krikor  took  us 
to  a  vineyard  where,  for  the  first  time  for  two  years, 
we  drank  wine.  At  Ir.stj  we  arrived  at  Ekrek,  a  village 
four  hours'  walk  south  of  Erzinjan,  where  we  remained 
four  or  ^\e  days.     Everything  was  plentiful. 

Araksi,  Yervant  and  Zenop  went  first  on  foot  to 
Erzinjan,  hired  a  carriage,  and  I  followed  them  with 
the  little  ones.  Fruit  and  vegetables  were  free  in 
Ekrek,  but  nothing  was  left  in  Erzinjan.  Alice  and 
Armine  fell  sick.  We  were  obliged  to  wait  for  one 
week. 

There  was  no  means  of  transport  here.  We  had 
to  travel  on  the  waggons.  We  arrived  at  Mama- 
Khatun.  Our  driver  and  his  friends  introduced  us  to 
the   officer   in   charge   of  the   military   transport,   who 


42  From  Turkish  Toils: 

kindly  allowed  us  to  be  sent  to  Erzeroum  by  motor-car. 
He  entertained  us  in  his  house  for  the  night.  His 
name  is  Yervant  Zohrab.  On  the  day  following,  at 
noon,  we  arrived  at  the  historic  city  of  Erzeroum.  I 
must  mention  that  two  air-fights  took  place  between 
the  Turkish  and  Russian  airmen  in  Erzinjan.  The 
Turks  were  badly  defeated. 

It  was  Saturday  when  we  arrived  at  Erzeroum, 
where  Arsen  caught  typhoid.  Three  weeks  after,  as 
soon  as  Arsen  had  recovered,  Zenop  and  Araksi  fell 
ill  of  the  same  infectious  disease.  The  weather  was 
very  cold,  and  we  had  no  means  of  protecting  our- 
selves. We  were  in  a  nearly  naked  condition.  Seeing 
that  all  the  children  were  in  danger  of  being  infected 
one  by  one,  I  deemed  it  advisable  to  go  with  Yervant, 
Arsen,  Alice,  and  Armine  to  Tiflis,  where  the  weather 
would  be  comparatively  mild,  and  where  it  would  be 
very  easy  to  communicate  with  you  through  the  British 
and  American  Consuls. 

Zenop  and  Araksi  remained  for  forty  days  in  Erze- 
roum, and  after  having  recovered  they  came  and  joined 
us  in  Tiflis,  just  at  the  time  when,  by  a  happy  coin- 
cidence, your  telegram  was  received. 

Here  there  are  numerous  Armenians,  whose  fate 
has  been  the  same*  as  ours  and  who  want  to  go  to 
America  and  are  trying  to  get  a  pass.  We  intend  to 
go  to  America  or  to  Egypt,  according  to  your  advice. 
We  are  all  in  good  health.  Our  liberty  is  nothing  but 
a  iTiiracle,  which  we  owe  to  God. 

I  send  with  this  report  my  photograph  and  that  of 
the  wiiole  family,  from  which  you  and  Arpeny  alone 


MR.  TOVaiAS  K.  MFQERDITCinAN) 


44  From  Turkish  Toils: 

are  absent,  allowing  us  in  our  Kurdish  dress,  and  also 
in  our  present  condition. 

We  are  now  anxiously  waiting  to  sec  you,  when 
I  shall  l)e  able  to  tell  you  for  hours  and  hours  the 
details  of  the  crimes  which  the  Germans  and  the  Turks 
committed  in  order  to  exterminate  the  Armenian  nation. 

One  other  thing  I  would  like  to  mention  before 
ending  my  report.  The  Turkish  Government  could 
never  have  carried  out  its  diabolical  plot  to 
exterminate  the  Armenians  if  the  Armenian  Commit- 
tees had  actually  set  on  foot  the  plan  ^of  revolt  which 
the  Turkish  Government  expected.  Neither  would  the 
Government  have  succeeded  if  it  had  not  split  up  the 
young  men  by  sending  some  to  the  Labour  Battalion 
and  exiling  the  others,  so  that  nobody  capable  of  bear- 
ing arms  in  self-defence  was  left. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  "exile"  three  Armenian 
tribes,  Dire  nomadic,  the  next  half-nomadic  and  the 
third  consisting  of  town-dwellers,  took  advantage  of 
the  friendship  of  their  Kurdish  neighbours  and 
attempted  to  defend  themselves;  they  are  still  holding 
out  to-day.  The  majority  are  Armenians  belonging 
to  the  Tayan,  Soran,  and  Khaltan  tribes.  How  for- 
tunate we  should  have  been  if  the  Armenians  had 
established  friendly  relations  with  the  Kurds  of  our 
district!  In  that  case,  the  calamity  which  befell  the 
Armenians  in  Kharpout  and  Diarbekir  would  have 
been  prevented  or  greatly  mitigated. 

The  following  episode  may  give  you  some  idea  of 
hoir  heroically  the  Armenians  in  some  places 
defended  themselves.  P.,  Q.,  V.,  T.  and  K.  came  to 
see  me  at  Kharpout  and  asked  me  what  to  do  in  case 


An  Armenian  Family's  Escape.         45 

the  Turks  committed  in  Diarbekir  the  same  atrocities 
they  had  done  in  other  places. 

Without  hesitation,  I  said:  "There  is  no  means 
but  to  defend  yourselves  or  escape  to  Dersim."  They 
did,  in  fact,  defend  themselves,  and  those  alone  were 
saved  from  the  massacre  who  escaped  to  Dersim  and 
took  refuge  among  the  Khian,  Modgan,  Khaltan, 
Botan  and  Milli  tribes,  according  to  a  pre-arranged 
plan. 

The  general  idea  among  the  Turk?  is  that  a  large 
part  of  the  responsibility  for  the  massacres  and  depor- 
tations falls  on  the  Germans.  Even  the  German  mis- 
sionaries played  a  great  part,  taking  their  arms  from 
the  poor  people  on  oaths  and  by  false  promises. 

It  is  true  that  the  Armenians  of  Kharpout  and 
Diarbekir  were  martyred  and  massacred  in  the  most 
atrocious  manner,  and  that  their  tomb  is  not  known. 
But  even  as  death  came  to  them  they  had  a  smile  on 
their  lips,  for  they  were  steadfast  in  their  faith  in  a 
new  and  Independent  Armenia  for  their  countrymen 
who  survived. 


Important  Books  of  the  Da 


m 


THE  CRIME 


By  a  German.     Author  of  "/  Aa 


An  arraignment  in  even  more  cogent  form  than  "I  Accuse!"] 
rulers  and  governments  of  ^^n\any  and  Austria. 

>C' *"   r:     Two  vols.    8vo.    Vol.  I.    N< 

THE  GREAT  CRIME  AND  ITS  MORAL    By  J.  Selden  Wu 

A  volume  which  is  an  irivaipattd  Hbrary.    An  illuminating  sum^ 
the  immense  documentary  literature  of  the  war.  8vo.    N< 

BELGIUM  IN  WAR  TIME      By  Commandant  De  Cerlache  De 

Translated  from  the  French   Edition  by  Bernard  Miall 

The  authoritative  book  essential  to  an  understanding  of  the  hist 
position  and  the  sufferings  of  the  country  that  will  not  die,  th 
the  Norwegian  and  Swedish  editions  of  this  famous  work  set 
fire.  Illustrations,  maps  and  facsimiles.    8vo.    I 

THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  SOMME  By  John 

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THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW   By  D.  Thomas 

Revealing  the  Germany  of  fact  in  place  of  the  Germany  of  t'i 
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I  ACCUSE !  O'ACCUSE!)  By  a 

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THE  GERMAN  TERROR  IN  FRANCE        By  Arnold  J. 

THE  GERMAN  iLrROR  IN  BELGIUM     By  Arnold  J . 

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TRENCH  PICTURES  FROM  FRANCE       By  Major  WUUam  Redr 
Biographical   Introduction  by   Miss  E.    M.   Smith-Dampier 

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THB' GERMAN  FURY  IN  BELGIUM  By  L, 

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MY  HOME  IN  THE  FIELD  OF  MERCY      By  Frances  Wil 

MY  HOME  IN  THE  FIELD  OF  HONOUR  By  Frances  Wil 

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